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New LT support building opened on 3rd May

A new addition to the Liverpool Telescope observatory site was recently completed and officially opened by the Vice Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University, Professor Nigel Weatherill, in an inauguration ceremony that was held on the 3rd May 2012. The support building (shown below) is a multi-purpose structure comprising a workshop, storage and office/research facilities.

View of the new support building next to the Liverpool TelescopeCredit: Martin Christie

In recent years, our engineers have found it increasingly difficult to conduct delicate work at the LT site, so it was decided to commission a new support building to provide assembly workshops and commissioning areas for new instruments prior to their installation on the telescope. The structure will also act as a maintenance facility for existing instrumentation and telescope hardware systems. A control room and office was also included for the benefit of personnel visiting the site on the few occasions when it's necessary to have someone present to commission and test new instruments, and when servicing the existing instrumentation and telescope hardware. The new building is some 20m long by 5m wide, situated 10 metres south of the observatory building and is connected by fibre optic links to the multiple computer racks in the telescope building, to allow full control of the telescope from the support building office if required.

The inauguration ceremony was performed by the Vice Chancellor, who was there with Director of the University's Astrophysics Research Institute (ARI) Professor Mike Bode, and LT Director Professor Iain Steele. Also there were representatives from the other telescopes on the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos (ORM), the ORM manager Dr. Juan Carlos Perez, the mayor of Garafia Sr Yeray Rodriguez Rodriguez, the support building's architect Sr. Gabriel Henriquez, and Sr. Jose Eloy Martin Canadillas from the building company.